Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1887-01-26
THE OLD SETTLER,

HE ULD SLllLEht
New York Sun
"Grahdpcp,' said little Peleg one
day as the Old Settler sat by the
kitchen stove greasins his boots with
the nubbn OF a tallow dip, "s as you
ever buried alives"
The Old Settler paused in his work
He drew his hand slowly out Of the
boot, put the hnbbin back in the sauc-
Ell on the stove hearth, and sat the
boot on the floor. There was at first
a startled look 81 his eyes, but it dis
appeared as he pulled his spectacles
down from his forehead to his noee
and gazed over them at his lively
! grandson, who was just then blowing
his breath on q window rane and
marking his name there with his finger.
'Ez | look back an gether up my
'ctomember' noes, said the Old Set
tier, after a reflective pause, 81 can't
'azactIss say fer sartin whuther Iwere
Buried alive or not, Peleg fer so many
things tha'd be likely to set theirselts
last onter my mind has happened to
me eZ I've pressed for ard, up an
down, over an acrost an through
this mundane spear, th't seCh tiifin'
little thing ez the enc you mention OF
wouldn't Hev ben likely fer to stick
1;Iar, an O. course I've forgot it.
But whuther l ever was buried
alive, Or whuther l ever wasn't
buried alive. Pm wiliin' TO state it
right here q one O. the biggest facts
th't ever were mannyfactur'd, th't l
wasn't never buried dead, b'gosh, an
ye kin spread it from the housetops!"
The Old Settler grabbed up his boot
again. and rubbed it vigorously with
the grease for moment. Peleg hav=
ing exhausted the surface of the win
dow pane with his Inscriptions, hustled
the cat out of the rush-bottom rock
ing chair and sat down. His grand
father suspended his boot greasing
operation once more.
"Peleg," said he. chats & curious
question fer you to put to yer gram
pop. Wat hev We been seem or hear
IN tell on th't could ha' put it inter
yer conk?"
well" said Peleg, "Bill Simmons
says to me the other day, That's
wonderful chap, that granddaddy of
yours he says. How many times
has he been killed and wounded?' he
says. told Bill that guessed you
hadn't been killed and wounded many
times, not all at once, anyhow; but
that you had been about everything
else there was, except it might be bur
led alive. 1 told Bill l guessed you
hadn't been buried alive yet, YOU
Jest ask him if he hahn t. Bill says,
and if he don't say that of course he
has, and don't tell you all
about how it happened, Bill says,
you can come over and suck for an
hour on our cider barrel with straw
So guesss I'll 60 over to Bills now,
grandpop, and see whether the cider
is worth it"
"Jis' hop on a leetle, Peleg," said |
the Old Settler, with ominous mild |
ness. 1--WE got time 'nought to give |
ye some advice on different matters
'twixt now an the time yer gram
comes in, an it'll doye good,
mebby, to .hev ears an hear. Yev
had the mumps on both sides, hain't
ye, Peleg?"
"Yes," said Peleg.
Gan the measles an the hookin'
cough?"
"Had en- both bad"
can was We in ven the chicken-pox
visited your folkses, house9'
Il was there, grandpop."
That's good" said the Old Settler,
leaning back in his chair and getting
ready to talk. That's good. Any
BOY O. your age ez has had all them
/ ready, specially the humps on both
tides, is apt to git it inter his head
hat tn hain't nothin' wuss to come,
IN th't he's ready to stan anything
hit is in th'futur' an come ont hunky,
less it mowt be q little rassel with a
am'ly o bars, or the unfortinit run
lin agn catty mount ez has been
lissyp'inted fer a week or so in gettin'
lis grub regular, Consistently sech O.
10y kin preciate the small passel o.
acts I'm bout to give him, fer they'll
how him b'gosh how he kin be mis-
,ook bout hisself.
aye mowt or We mowtn't ha' heerd
ne say lore now th't wen / were
10Y III WANT ez meny boys ez tn is
low, but whether yev heerd me or
lot, such were the fact. Jedgin' :.
rom wat I've see O. boys nawadays,
IN specially durin' the past short
ime, hain't Altered to say th't it'd
,e better fer folks in ginner'l if the
act were iist vicy vercy. Mex to me,
the best boy th't lived in
ur deestric, sixty years ago an bet
er, were Ajax Thumply. Ajax want
My good but he were tough. He
r went round the country askin' 9th
r boys if their gan'pops was ever
uried alive, an bettin' the cider
hit they'd say they was. He didn't
waste no time dom that, but wat
id he do! He iist went an got buried
live hisself an I'm glad th't this
Bill Simmons has managed to put me
n mind o. that leetle circumstance
n the hist'ry of Ajax Thumply.
'The fact th't tn want many boys
n them times give the measles an
he hooNn' cough, etcettery, the best
ind of chance to slosh in their best |
cks, an tn bein' SO much on EN- to
pare, 'twa'n't no uncommon thingfer
en- ter visit the boys two or three
lines apiece, an keep Us either o +